


Piano

by Lennie09



Series: Music [1]
Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Backstory, Dirk can play the piano, Dirk's backstory, Fluff, Gen, Music, Reunion, and sing, tinge of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-07-10 23:14:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15959612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lennie09/pseuds/Lennie09
Summary: Dirk likes to play the piano.





	Piano

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I have read the comics however I will be changing Dirk’s backstory to suit this fic's - and my own, needs. Also all Romanian is done in Google Translate so it’s probably going to be wrong.

A young boy’s head pokes around a corner, peering into the room just a few meters ahead, the door to said room slightly ajar. The reason for said peering is due to a soft melody emanating from the room, a tune on a piano - the boy’s mother’s piano to be exact. Along with the sound of the piano, is a voice, sweet and soothing, like honey in the form of vibrations picked up by the ears. 

The voice carried words not of the one that this story is told through, while foreign to many of us, the meanings were not lost on the boy, having heard these words many times. The boy moves forward, light from a window hitting his hair, the boy’s hair reflecting back an auburn colour. He approaches the ajar door and knocks gently.

“Mămică?” He says softly. The piano stops as the woman sitting in front lifts her hands up. 

“Svlad? Iubit what are you doing up at this time? You should be in bed.” She turns and smiles at her son, hair the same shade though eyes slightly different. 

“I had a dream, it was not good. There were these men, in black suits, they looked all serious and scary. They said they had come to take me away. I don’t want to be taken.” Svlad had tears welling up in his eyes. His mother got up from the stool and knelt down next to her son, wrapping her arms around him.

“Oh iubit. No one is going to take you away I promise. Come.” She got back up on the stool, grabbing her sons hand she guided him next to her - the eight year old being too big to sit on her lap anymore. 

Svlad’s mother placed her hands back on the piano and started to play. From her voice came a lullaby, one that her mother used to sing to her, and her mother’s mother as well. The young boy quickly felt his eyes droop as he leant against his mother’s side. 

The sounds of the piano covered the soft speaking of his father on the phone in the room adjacent, sealing his son’s fate.

\--------

_Freedom_ was the only thing on his mind as he walked through the halls of St Cedd’s, backpack filled with the items he would need. The building was massive and so old that you could practically feel the history pouring out from the brickwork. 

The just-turned adult approached a desk with a young man sitting on the other side. He appeared to be focusing on a crossword while ignoring passersby and the paperwork on his desk. 

Just-turned adult adjusted his bright pink tie.

“Hello! I have just arrived at this, to be frank, huge school and I have no idea where to go. You seem like you know what you’re doing so could you perhaps show me where to go?” The voice that produced that sentence is British, just like the majority of the voices in the huge school, however, most definitely more chipper than those there. 

The man at the desk looks up and grimaces at the garish person jabbering away in front of them, continuing on whatever train of thought his mind had followed and continued to follow. 

“If you would stop talking for two seconds perhaps I could tell you. What’s your name?” 

“Uh, Svlad Cjelli. Though I don’t particularly like that name. I have been workshopping a couple for a while, how does Dirk Cjelli sound?” The man at the desk ignores the question as he types on the computer placed atop.

“You’re in room 221.” He passes Svlad-Dirk a key and a map. Using the map, Dirk makes his way up to the front door, 221 plastered on the wood. He hears a familiar sound inside the room and his breath catches in his throat. However, the sound, while familiar, is not the same. The tune is faster and the piano is of a different kind. 

Dirk tests the door handle and finds that it is unlocked. He opens the door and walks in, there is a man around his age - a roommate Dirk supposes, who is at an electronic keyboard. He stops playing and turns to face Dirk. 

“You must be my roommate! Name’s Richard MacDuff.” He stands up and goes to shake Dirk’s hand. Dirk reciprocates however he grabs Richard’s hand wrong. The man’s face scrunches up in confusion over the grip but shrugs it off.

“Svlad Cjelli, but you can call me Dirk. You play the piano?” 

“Yeah I’m in a band, can you?”

“Not really, but I’d like to learn.”

“I’d teach you but I’m not exactly a professional. Actually, there’s a piano teacher here, I’ll give you their number though lessons are going to cost.” Richard writes down the number and hands the piece of paper to Dirk.

“Oh! Thank you.” Dirk smiles.  
\--------

Farah had given them a large amount of the money she had received from Lydia, this meant that Dirk could finally get what he had been wanting for quite a while now - a piano. No, not a keyboard but a piano. 

The newly acquired piano now sat in the lounge in his apartment, a small outcropping in the room the perfect size. The keyboard that he had in that spot before had been relocated to the office while he tried to convince Todd to let him join his and Amanda’s duo music act. 

So that is how Dirk finds himself in the broom closet of their office playing the keyboard due to boredom - not a single case had walked through the door for 3 days now. Usually he plays an array of songs which he has learnt and taught himself over the years. 

However, the song this time was not pre-thought, he just played whatever melody came to mind. The melody was familiar, though. A small smile graced his face as he remembers words, a lullaby, the words come out of his mouth. 

“Hey Dirk!” A knock on the door, he stops playing. The door opens.

“A client has just arrived.” Behind Todd is a woman with greying auburn hair. Her face is awe-stricken. 

“How do you know that song? Are you Romanian?” The accent of the lady is a mix of Romanian and English

 

Dirk’s eyes went wide, his mouth opened and closed several times. 

 

“Dirk, you okay?” Todd asked.

“Y-your name, what is it?” Dirk asked the woman.

“Lucia Cjelli.”

Dirk’s eyes started to water.

“Mum? Mămică? It’s, it’s me.”

“Wha- what do you mean?” Her face had the look of cautious optimism.

“I- I had that dream, when I was 8. About the men in black coming to get me and you played that song to me and I fell asleep. But when I woke up in the morning they had come and Tată had called them, I was so scared I never thought I’d see you again.” 

 

Dirk had stood up, a few tears had run down his face, and similarly down the face of his mother as realisation sank in. 

“Svlad, iubitul meu. 26 years. How much have I missed? I came here because I was desperate - someone told me that Dirk Gently deals with strange cases and I thought this would be the last hope to find you and you’re already here!”

“Yeah, I’m already here.” He wrapped his arms around his mum’s as they both cried tears of joy.

**Author's Note:**

>  _Translations_  
>  Mămică - Mum  
> Iubit - Loved, Beloved  
> Tată - Father  
> Iubitul meu - My beloved
> 
> Thank you for reading, I'm planning on doing more in this little universe I've created.


End file.
